While the terms shredder and grinder are commonly used interchangeably day-to-day, when it comes to material processing equipment it’s not so simple. Even though both pieces of equipment involve the breaking down of larger materials, the processes are quite different. To make sure your team is on the same page Columbus Equipment Company is here to provide a breakdown of both types of equipment.
What is a Shredder
Think of the shredder as the initial step in processing materials. A worker will input material such as tree branches, storm debris, green waste, or waste materials into the top of the shredder. Once loaded, powerful rotating shafts or drums will break down materials with teeth. The drums will operate at a low speed with high torque to shred the input material and release small pieces of a variety of sizes.
What is a Grinder
A grinder on the other hand uses a conveyor infeed system to feed material into an enclosed chamber where fast-spinning hammer mill pulverize materials and break down the materials such as organic and land clearing waste in consistently sized yield. A perk of using a grinder is the wide variety of cutters and screen sizes available for the operator to choose from allowing increased control of the material output.
Here’s How to Use the Two Together
While the two types of equipment have their differences, they can work together to improve the efficiency of the machines and the breakdown processes.
As stated before, initial processing should begin with a shredder that can handle cross-contaminated streams and break down full-sized materials into smaller/easier-to-manage pieces. Then, a grinder comes into play to break down the material into more precise/smaller pieces.
This method is recommended as it helps extend and protect the grinder’s lifeline. The reasoning behind this is a shredder eliminates contaminants from the inputted material that could lead to excessive wear and tear to the enclosed chamber of the grinder.
A high-speed grinder cannot be eliminated from the mulch/landscape material production, as a shredder will not create a finished “fine grind” product.
For more details on the right equipment for your job, give us a call.